This document summarizes a conference on challenging learning held on May 10th, 2012. It discusses how achievement can be improved when students focus on learning strategies rather than performance, accept feedback, set difficult goals, compare themselves to criteria rather than others, have high efficacy in learning, and self-regulate. It also discusses the importance of learning goals over performance targets and the power of asking students the three questions of "Where am I going?", "How am I doing?" and "What are my next steps?".

1. AIS Conference – Challenging Learning, 10th May 2012
James Nottingham www.challenginglearning.com

3. How do we improve achievement for all?
Achievement is more likely to be increased when
students …
 Invoke learning rather than performance strategies
 Accept rather than discount feedback
 Benchmark to difficult rather than to easy goals
 Compare themselves to subject criteria rather than to
other students
 Possess high rather than low efficacy to learning
 Effect self-regulation and personal control
John Hattie, 2009

4. Performance targets encourage a focus on position

5. Learning goals focus on progress and personal bests

6. Where am I going?
How am I doing?
What are my next steps?
The 3 most powerful questions for feedback (& learning)

7. Scandinavians talk about ‘curling parents’

8. One path to answering the 3 learning questions
What‟s the point?
Ready Learning Intentions
Success Criteria
Initial instruction
Fire First attempts by children
Aim Formative assessment and
a focus on progress

10. Where are we going and how will we know we‟re there?
Learning Intentions
o To find out what links the Vikings with North East England
Success Criteria
o Know when and where the Vikings came from
o Identify names and places associated with the Vikings
o Ask relevant questions about the Vikings

11. Why did they Gate
AD 700 - 1100 attack Lindisfarne? Bairns
Lad
Tarn
Vikings Thriding
Norse Rape &
language pillage
Did they believe in
Longships God?
Dragon Horned
ships helmets

12. Marzano – groups of 3 work best
Informal
Formal
Long-term

13. Why did they Gate
AD 700 - 1100 attack Lindisfarne? Bairns
Captured
Lad
Yorvik in 866
Tarn
Vikings Thriding
Norse Rape &
language pillage
King Cnut Did they believe in
ruled England Longships God?
from 1016 Dragon Horned
helmets Gods included
ships Odin, Thor, Fri
Eric Bloodaxe
gg & Loki
Dead warriors went died in 954
to Valhalla

14. Formative vs. Summative assessment
Group Feedback Pre-Post Gain Attitudes
A Comments
only 30% gain Positive
B Marks only Top 25% +
No gain
Bottom 25% -
C Marks and Top 25% +
No gain
comments Bottom 25% -
Butler (1997)

17. Marking sheet for history essays (Frank Egan)
Introduction Conclusion
 4+ sentences  3+ sentences
 Proposition stated  Summation
 Outline of narrative  Proof of proposition
 Context of topic  Specific reference to
assess/evaluate as last sentence
Body of essay Literacy
 3+ paragraphs  Spelling accuracy
 6+ facts per paragraph  Grammar structures
 Inter-relationships
“I can actually see how to
 Argument is relevant
improve, it’s obvious.”
 Quote with source given

19. The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition
Can read
Need routines the context
Basis for Action
Novice Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

20. Novice: rule-governed behaviour
 Need generalised rules and structures as a guide
 Quality management systems can be very helpful
 If something goes wrong, blame the system or senior people
Little personal responsibility in this context
Beginner: hungering for certainty
 Starting to notice patterns
 Wishing things were more predictable
 Looking for “the book” or “the expert” to provide the answers
 Feel limited personal responsibility

21. Competent: planned & analytical
 Efficient and organised
 Can assess relative importance and urgency
 Can readily describe and explain actions
 Feel personal responsibility for outcomes
Proficient: strategic and able to read context
 Seldom surprised, have learned what to expect
 Have organised knowledge into wise sayings
 Sometimes forget to explain complexities of the big picture to
analytical competent colleagues
 Rapid, fluid, involved, intuitive type of behaviour

22. Expert: right thing at the right time
Highly intuitive, based on huge store of wisdom
Great capacity to handle the unexpected
Highly nuanced behaviour, very context specific
Often there are no words to describe expert
performance, and often it is subconscious anyway
Hard to fit this into quality systems
Performance drops if generalised rules are imposed
Usually does not make for good teaching of
novices, but great for teaching competent people

23. Socratic questions
Clarify Are you saying that …?
Can you give us an example of …?
Reasons Why do you say that …?
What reasons support your idea?
Assumptions Are you assuming that …?
What would happen if …?
How could we look at this in a different way?
Viewpoints
What alternatives are there to this?
Wouldn‟t that mean that …?
Effects
What are the consequences of that?

24. Learning how to learn
„What (students) should learn first is not the
subjects ordinarily taught, however important they
may be; they should be given lessons of will, of
attention, of discipline; before exercises in
grammar, they need to be exercised in mental
orthopaedics; in a word they must learn how to
learn.‟
Alfred Binet
1857 - 1911

25. Alfred Binet, creator of the first IQ test
„Some recent philosophers
have given their moral approval
to the deplorable verdict that
an individual‟s intelligence is a
fixed quantity, one which
cannot be augmented. We
must protest and act against
this brutal pessimism … it has
no foundation whatsoever.‟
Alfred Binet
1857 - 1911

27. Independent and Intuitive and Sharp and quick-
intellectual
Aquarius sympathetic
Pisces witted
Aries
Like to be different Vague & careless Procrastinator
Strongly Very versatile and Shrewd and
determined
Taurus adaptable
Gemini cautious
Cancer
Self indulgent Inconsistent Indecisive & moody
Broad-minded and Practical and Easygoing and
expansive
Leo diligent
Virgo sociable
Libra
Bossy & intolerant Overcritical & harsh Prone to daydream
Powerful and Intellectual and Very disciplined and
passionate
Scorpio philosophical
Sagittarius focused
Capricorn
Obsessive Tactless & restless Fatalistic

29. Self-fulfilling prophecies

30. Dweck& Hattie: We should focus on progress, not rank order
92 90 90
85 86 85
73 78 84
64 70 78
43 41 40
32 35 34

31. 900+ Meta-analyses (covering 50,000+ studies)
2009 2011

32. Every student should be
making progress of 0.4
effect size every year
How do you know what
progress your students
are making?

33. Visible Learning Leaders are evaluators
 How do I know this is working?
 How can I compare „this‟ with „that‟?
 What is the influence on learning?
 What is the magnitude of the effect?
 What evidence would convince me we‟re wrong?

34. The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition
Can read
Need routines the context
Basis for Action
Novice Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

35. Praise that often slows down progress
Clever girl!
Gifted musician
Brilliant
mathematician
Bright boy
Top of the class!
By far the best

36. The effects of different types of praise
Mueller and
Dweck, 1998
In six studies, 7th
grade students
were given a
series of
nonverbal IQ
tests.

37. Mueller and Dweck, 1998
Intelligence praise
“Wow, that‟s a really good score. You must be smart at this.”
Process praise
“Wow, that‟s a really good score. You must have tried really
hard.”
Control-group praise
“Wow, that‟s a really good score.”

38. Number of problems solved on a 3rd test
6.5
6
Effort Praise
5.5
Control Praise
5 Intelligence Praise
4.5
Trial 1 Trial 3

39. Boys get 8 times more criticism than girls

40. The effects of praise
Swimming
“You do your best
swimming when you
concentrate and try your
best to do what Chris is
asking you to do”
Ballet
“You‟re the best
ballerina in the world!”

41. 1.Good girl; 2.How extraordinary; 3.Great effort; 4.Outstanding
performance; 5.What a scientist you are; 6.Unbelievable work;
7.You‟re a genius; 8.You're getting better; 9.Clever boy 10.You
should be proud; 11.You've got it; 12.You're special; 13. Very
talented; 14. You've outdone yourself; 15. What a great listener;
16. You came through; 17.You‟re very artistic; 18.Keep up the
good work; 19.It's everything I hoped for; 20.Perfect; 21.A+ Work;
22.You're a shining star; 23.Inspired; 24.You're #1; 25.You're very
responsible; 26.You're very talented; 27.Spectacular work;
28.Great discovery; 29.You're amazing; 30.What a great idea;
31.Well worked through; 32.Very thoughtful; 33.You figured it out;
34.Top of the class; 35. You make me smile

42. Storming is Necessary for Learning
“Progress is impossible without change, and
those who cannot change their minds
cannot change anything.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)

43. Not everything counts
Not everything that counts can be
counted, and not everything that
can be counted counts
Sign hanging in
Einstein's office at Princeton

44. How do we improve achievement for all?
Achievement is more likely to be increased when
students …
 Invoke learning rather than performance strategies
 Accept rather than discount feedback
 Benchmark to difficult rather than to easy goals
 Compare themselves to subject criteria rather than to
other students
 Possess high rather than low efficacy to learning
 Effect self-regulation and personal control
John Hattie, 2009

45. Too much innovation
“One of the most critical problems
our schools face is not resistance to
innovation but the
fragmentation, overload and
incoherence resulting from the
uncritical and uncoordinated
acceptance of too many different
innovations”
Fullan&Stiegelbauer, 1991

46. Classic Brainstorming
 Sit in a circle
 Ask the first person for their first idea
 Accurately write their idea down on a flip chart
 Ask the next person for their idea
 If someone wants to, they can say “pass”
 Collect ideas from every person. Go round the circle
twice, or until everyone says “pass”
 Number each idea
 There should be NO discussion

47. Learning Detectives

56. challenginglearning.com
p4c.coop
james@p4c.com
@JamesNottinghm